Qatar: Call to monitor children over usage of apps

[Logethica]

Qatar: Call to monitor children over usage of apps;

DOHA: The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has urged the public to be vigilant and not to expose children and minors to offensive material circulated through social media apps...

It advised customers to stay safe and be cautious while using apps such as SnapChat, Periscope, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc. “that provide audio, video and multimedia content that may be offensive, sensitive or entirely inappropriate culturally, for underage audiences,” or for the security of individuals and businesses.

“As an informed consumer, ensure minor children in your family or under your care are using age-appropriate apps. Several social media apps have minimum age requirements, you should encourage children around you to respect and abide by them.

“When unavoidable, monitor and supervise children’s usage of apps that may display age inappropriate content,” said a CRA statement yesterday.

“Protect your personal data. Sharing your personal information, photos, location and contacts publicly or with apps, may result in undesirable outcomes. Always take precautions,” the statement added...

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE LINK AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE]
​

The Sharing of Personal Information, Photos, Location, and Contacts with Apps has been a hot topic for some time now..

In June of this year blogs.blackberry.com ran the following article..​

​

Your Social Media Apps Are Spying on You; Here’s How to Get Your Privacy Back:

Sharing is great – it’s what we’re all taught to do from the earliest age – but our mobile devices may be blurring the lines between sharing and privacy a bit too much. According to security researchers and users’ reports, social media sites may be accessing our devices’ camera, microphone, GPS, and other features more than we realize. And a lot of people are uncomfortable with what they believe is an invasion of their privacy...

I use my phone’s camera for a lot of things beyond taking snapshots. I take photos of grocery lists, parking locations, or documents I need to send people. Recently, Facebook has started asking me if I want to post my most recent mobile photos, which – frankly – terrifies me. What if I accidentally post the photo of our insurance card that I took to send my kids’ summer camp? Or the picture I took of my teenage daughter right after she got out of bed. (I think her resulting explosion would be the real definition of a photo bomb.)
Speaking of photos, I hope you’re aware that your smartphone’s camera geotags every picture you take. While this feature makes it easy for me to tag the location of a photo I post, I admit it’s pretty creepy that anyone can see where I’ve been.

You don’t need a photo geotag to be stalked by your phone. Thanks to Apple Health in iPhone and Google Fit on Android, your location is being tracked anywhere you take your phone, recorded for posterity. This is great for checking how close you get to taking the recommended 10,000 steps each day, but the stalker factor here is pretty huge...

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT blogs.blackberry.com ]​

 

[Logethica]

PrivacyGrade: Grading The Privacy Of Smartphone Apps

We're a team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University. We have assigned privacy grades to Android apps based on some techniques we have developed to analyze to their privacy-related behaviors. Learn more here or browse our analyzed apps.

 

[Logethica]

5 Free Personal Safety Apps that Can Call For Help
SOURCE: techlicious.com (ARTICLE DATE: JUl 15th 2016)

bSafe
Personal safety app bSafe, a free download for both Apple iOS and Android devices, contains an incredibly wide set of personal safety features. It can be used to privately alert friends that you’ve arrived at your destination, send info about your changing GPS location and even setup fake phone calls to slyly escape uncomfortable dates and similar situations.

When you need real help, bSafe offers an audible alarm and immediately starts broadcasting video captured by your phone and your GPS location. Information is continually collected and recorded, and is sharable with police should it prove necessary to do so. You can activate the alarm manually or you can use the Follow Me Timer mode, which which will automatically send an emergency SOS message if you don't check in before the timer runs out. This is great for late nights or a little extra safety on your morning run when you only want to disturb people in an emergency.

The one drawback is that friends and family you designate as your guardians all have to load the app and create a bSafe profile. The app is available on iTunesand Google Play.

SafeTrek
The SafeTrek app is an emergency app that lets you alert the police when you are in an unsafe situation, but with a failsafe in case you don't need help. When you launch the app you place your thumb on the Safe button. If you release your thumb off the button you are asked to enter a 4-digit code. If you don't enter the code, the police are notified. If you do, nothing happens.

This is a good way to be ready in case the situation is questionable, but you don't know for sure it's time to alert the police. But if the situation gets dangerous, you can send out the call for help without being obvious about it.

The SafeTrek app is free on iTunes and Google Play.

To find out the remaining 3 personal safety apps, and to read the article,please visit the link at the top of this post

 

[Logethica]

A Parent's Guide to Online Safety
SOURCE: webroot.com (ARTICLE DATE: Jul 24th 2016)
As the Internet becomes more common in homes across America, children are using the Internet earlier and earlier. Kids use the Internet for everything from entertainment and games to communication and homework. As they get older, they will undoubtedly begin to experiment with downloading music or videos and exploring socials networking sites. The more they explore online, the more they are at risk from predators and the more they put your PC and privacy at risk. The better educated you are about online risks, the more you will be able to keep your children safe. Webroot has conducted research about the gap between parents' perceptions and kids' online reality. We also have a handy for you to help you keep your children safe online.

10 Things You Can Teach Kids to Help Improve Online Safety
Before you allow your children to go online without your supervision, make sure you establish a set of rules that you can all agree on.

If you're not sure where to start, here are some ideas on what to discuss with your kids to teach them about using the Internet more safely:

• Encourage your kids to share their Internet experiences with you. Enjoy the Internet along with your children.
• Teach your kids to trust their instincts. If they feel nervous about anything online, they should tell you about it.
• If your kids visit chat rooms, use instant messaging programs, online video games, or other activities on the Internet that require a login name to identify themselves, help them choose that name and make sure it doesn't reveal any personal information about them.
• Insist that your kids never give out your address, phone number, or other personal information, including where they go to school or where they like to play.

To read the remaining things you can teach kids to help improve online safety please visit the link at the top of this post

 

[DardiM]

Thanks for the share

All parents have to take care of theirs kids, and internet could be a Big Bad Guy for their security

(After have read all your complete posts, i can say i'm ready to begin ....
to have children )